The Bride

The Bride by Julie Garwood has long been undeniably my ultimate personal favorite romance, although there have been a few challengers for the title recently, as well as an often-used comfort read for when nothing else works for me. An interesting thing I’ve always noticed about this book is that it satisfies so many personal flavor needs for me in one book. It has –

• one of the most enduring and endearing of Julie Garwood’s trademark tough-guy teddy-bear heroes, Alec Kincaid
• a smart, tough heroine in Jamie
• both a hero and heroine with incredible strength of character going toe-to-toe with each other
• a villain that fades into the woodwork for the most part
• early commitment by the hero and heroine even though it starts as an arrange marriage
• humorously misguided assumptions about how to deal with the opposite sex on the part of both the hero and heroine
• family ties in the large extended family atmosphere at Castle Kincaid that helps Jamie “settle in to” marriage and Scottish life
• sensuous and tender loves scenes that warm the heart and curl the toes
• a medieval and Scottish setting
• loving banter between the English heroine Jamie and the Scots hero Alec as they adjust to each other
• the feel of an old friend so that, when I am in the mood to reread it, I rarely skim any of it

Perfection? Maybe, maybe not, but it always feels pretty close to it to me whenever I need a refresher on what the best in romances can contain. Or simply a break from trying anything new.

(originally written May 9, 1999)